This news item expired on Wednesday, May 31, 2023 so the information below could be outdated or incorrect.
National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is April 9-15, and Buncombe County is celebrating by profiling some of our 911 dispatch team. The demands of Public Safety Telecommunications make it a challenging and rewarding job. Being the first, first responder takes a special type of person, and Buncombe County is proud to highlight some of our amazing 911 staff in their own words. Thanks to all our Public Safety Telecommunicators for your dedication to helping keep our community safe.
Interested in joining the County’s Public Safety Telecommunications Team? Click here for more information.
Name: Teruko DiDomenico
Position: David Squad City Law Supervisor
Years as a Public Safety Telecommunicator (for Buncombe and other experience): 8 total years over 3 agencies
What made you want to become a Public Safety Telecommunicator?My dad heard about it at one of my hometown police departments and since I was air traffic control for the Army he thought it would be a good fit, and it was. I fell in love with it, and it has brought me to Asheville.
What is your favorite part of the job?
Running radio channels, I fiend for it. Getting to know my officers.
What is a misconception of your job?
That we just answer simple phone calls, we do so much more, and people do not know what truly goes on in a comm center.
What would you like the public to know about your job?
We are not simple secretaries, we do not just file paperwork, and we truly are the first, first responders and need to be treated and classified as same. We go through just as much as responders on the ground and it affects us just as hard.